Posted by Whitney Quesenbery on March 19, 2012 | Comments (0)
Some of my first musical memories are from Pete Seeger's children's concerts in New York many years ago, where I screamed "Abiyoyo" with an auditorium full of kids. If you don't know his name, just Google it. You'll find him described as America's best-loved folksinger and a lot of other superlatives.
One of the things that's special about a Pete Seeger concert is the way he introduces each song with a story. He talks about where he heard it or how he thought up the tune or why the lyrics are important to him. His delivery is so understated that it's easy to miss what great stories they are. At a recent concert I could feel the whole audience holding their breath through each story, waiting for the moment when they could connect the story to the song he was about to sing. Sometimes he timed it perfectly: the pieces didn't fall into place until the first banjo note. And we all exhaled the opening lyrics with him.
That's the other thing that's special about a Pete Seeger concert. He can get everyone in the room to come together in song, even those of us who rarely sing outside of the shower. Pete's getting older and doesn't have much of a voice left. But all he needed to do is remind us of the story, give us the tune, and let us sing the song. He makes music into a participatory act of community by acting less like a performer and more like a facilitator or leader.
Peggy Seeger, Pete's sister and a singer-songwriter in her own right, was there, too. Leading an folk song, Dear Old Buffalo Boy, she made us get into character. The song is a conversation, alternating verses between a man and a woman. The first time we sang it just fine, but without much emotion. Then, she told the audience about the context of the song and the social setting behind the humor. With a character -- a persona -- to imagine, the song got funnier, deeper, more alive, and so did our singing.
The whole concert was a great example of how we create stories (and songs) together.
Posted by Whitney Quesenbery on February 26, 2012 | Comments (0)
What's the difference between a scenario and a story?
I've always thought those sorts of definitions are trick questions, especially when we are struggling to find words to match our ideas. Perhaps it's inevitable that we sometimes use the same word in different ways...and different words to mean the same thing.
If we look at three ways of creating stories in UX today, we can see a difference in both the quality of the story and what its value is.
Lets start with Agile user stories. The classic form is something like:
As a [role] I can [do something] so that [benefit]
Like many story forms in designing technology, the goal of these stories is to find the simplest way to express a requirement. We want to know who, what, and why, so that our design (and development) work can be grounded in that context.
Many of the abstract modeling tools -- swimlanes, flow diagrams - use case diagrams - have the same goal: to strip away the casual differences and show the underlying core.
The next type of story is what I would call a scenario. They describe the sequence of events, adding how to the story. Whether they are storyboards that walk through an interaction, a narrative use case, or any other form, their focus is on the plot. They answer the question, "What happened?" or "What will happen?"
Finally, we can add rich detail that lets us understand the human perspective and response. Imagery, emotion, contextual details, and deeper motivations all take us into the point of view of the characters. These stories are often tied to personas, building on the demographic and behavioral data they embody.
When we include not just the basics of who, what, why, and how, but also the rich texture of the experience, we have created a story that is both useful and helps us connect to the people who will use the products we create.
That's the power of story.
If you'd like to know more, I'm giving a full-day workshop on how to use stories and personas to design with users in mind.
Using Personas and Storytelling Effectively
May 7, 2012
American Institute of Architects
Washington DC
